Absence noted

"Harry! We really just did that! A bit exhilarating, that was." 

Harry just looked at her fondly as they walked the halls. 

"How are we going to get out of Hogwarts though? I don't think the knight bus comes to Hogwarts and Hogsmead is a bit of a walk with all of our things.." Her excitement turned contemplating as she worked it out, but Harry stopped her in her tracks. 

"I know a way, but you have to promise not to get mad – to listen to everything first. Ok?" She looked at him suspiciously but nodded none the less. "Dobby?"

Hermione was visibly working herself up when dobby popped in. 

"Harry calls for Dobby?" The young elf was dressed in a small uniform, not of Hogwarts, but with the Potter crest. He also seemed calmer and more centered than they'd last seen him. This shocked Hermione enough for her to calm down. 

"Dobby was the one who encouraged me to go with this plan you know?" Hermione quite thought that was no reason for the fond look he had while saying that, he may be thinking of something else though. "I was eating in the kitchens for lunch, not wanting to be in a crowd, and Dobby and me got to talking. During that talk he also told me more – more than anyone ever does really – about house elves. Apparently if they don't bond to a wizard or wizarding family they die, 'mione. Dobby had been using what magic he'd had in reserve for years. House elves don't have a core like us. Theirs is more like a cup that we fill while ours is more like solar panels." And he did look truly guilty that he'd forced Dobby through that. 

"You don't be silly, Harry. Hogwarts also give magic, just not as much. Like a diet." Dobby looked at him in a reprimanding manner. His fondness overshadowed everything else, though. That was more comforting than the reprimand. 

Hermione looked hesitant as she responded, trying to readjust her world view – or work out how to help the still abused one's without hurting them more, probably that one. "I see... Ok. So you've bonded then?"

"Yes, miss! Making Dobby very happy, Harry is the best." He beamed at her. 

"Ok." She said more firmly with a determined nod. "What was your idea Harry?" 

Harry smirked at her before turning to Dobby. "Could you pack our things then meet us at the front doors? You can pop us out right?"

"Yes, sir!" And Pop, he was gone. 

"Well, thats that, dont you think?" 

Hermione gave a startled laugh before shaking her head fondly. "Only you, Harry, only you."

As the doors to the Great Hall closed, so to did he feel like the future closed to him. 

This had not been the plan. 

Oh dear. 

The Hall was dead silent for a beat. Then two. Then-

"He can't just do that- can he?!" A young Gryffindor spoke, breaking the tension and causing it to spill over. Everyone was talking, no, yelling. Trying to get their pleas heard he imagined. 

He had no hope they would be though. 

Dumbledore stood and moved to the golden podium towards the front of the teachers stage, shooting a bang from his wand when there. 

"Settle down now," he said when they all quited from the blast. "All is not lost." It was. Without Harry they were all doomed. He let his gaze roam over all the people he'd tried to save, seeing the hall emptying in his minds eye. 

"Exactly! There is nothing out there to get you, you're perfectly safe." Umbridge cut in. 

He gave her his patented stare before addressing the hall again. "We can still fight. We are still many of one against the enemy. They are weak at this time, few at their side. We will get through this as we always have. Right now I think it might be best to head to your dorms tonight. Rest up, tomorrow will be here whether you take care for it to or not." And with that they all left in an orderly – if slightly frantic – manner. 

He needed to think about how to salvage this. 

By the time he tucked himself away in his office he still didn't have a course of action. Without Harry they'd all die in this war, whether that took a month or another decade like last time. With the prophecy in play Dumbledore saw no way to kill voldemort. One wrong move – one over confident move – and they'd be back where they were as if Harry never vanquished him in the first place. 

He couldn't make the same mistakes as he did with Gellert. 

He sat heavily in his chair. 'This will require some serious thought.' He looked towards his plentiful odd magical devices. 'I do hope young Harry is ok..'

Harry had already owled his account manager, after the talk with Dobby. He'd asked to be able to meet him today – to be determined by his availability as a student – and finally be able to go over everything. All he knew that the moment was that Dumbledore had entered him in the tournament and he was emancipated as a result. His manager hinted at more in his previous correspondence though. 

"Are you ready?" Hermione and him nodded, with Hedwig hooting. Then they disappeared. 

"Ah! I see you could get away!" His manager, silver claw, said. 

"Actually, we withdrew from school. It's a whole story, so you mind if I owl my parents to meet us here?" Hermione said looking at them both. 

Harry nodded while silver claw replied. "Yes, you may, but they can't be here for Mr. Potter's personal meeting. Do you want to do that while we get that business delt with?" 

Hermione hurriedly nodded her head and took Hedwig from his shoulder. "May I have some of my writing equipment, Dobby?" He happily poped them unto her hands. "Just come get me when you're ready." She said, leaving. 

Silver claw began shifting through paper work and searching for information as he talked. "We have much to discuss. First up, we have the fact that you are Heir Black. While unable to claim the Wizengamot seat unil magical maturity – 17 – it would greatly help the petition you'll be making for a trial concerning the lord apparent. Next is the fact that Dumbledore has tried to use your family account to pay the Dursley family, which we thankfully caught in time. We found them unsuitable, and therefore, unable to be paid for their care. Lastly we have to discuss how you want to handle the love potions a young Ms. Weasley has been slipping to you."

Harry just looked more and more incredulous as he kept taking. How had he known any of this. Harry didn't even know much of it. Silver claw must have seen Harry's expression, though, as he gave him a look. 

"Magic knows much, Mr. Potter. Everything concerning you is written in our files. Now, might I add not educating you up to standard in the facts of the Wizarding world. Let's start from the first topic down, though, its seems Mr. Bla-"

And the meeting did continue. For over an hour. He felt vaguely sorry for making Hermione wait, but he felt more sorry for himself as the meeting dragged on and out everything done to him. 

Finally he was able to get her though. 

They all piled into his account managers office, four chairs in a semi circle in front of his desk, before Mr. Granger broke out. "Now, what is this about sweetie. Why aren't you in school? How did you even get here from Scotland?" 

Hermione told her parents everything that had happened today, including the plan. That turned into an explanation about the year, then the last, then the rest. Suffice to say, they weren't pleased. Not with Hermione for not telling them, but more with Dumbledore and Britain's Wizarding world in general. Common sense and corruption were mentioned frequently. 

"I mean! How did nobody care about a troll! A giant dog! Giant spiders! Giant snakes!" Mrs. Granger spoke in a hiss. 

"People being petrified! A mass murderer and dementors! A child entered in a death tournament! Said boy facing voldemort! three bloody times!" Mr. Granger cut in. 

So yeah. Put like that Harry felt pretty dumb. And tired. So so so... Tired. 

They talked about their options – whether to homeschool or go to France. Either was an option immediately as they already knew French apparently. 

They also invited him to stay with them since he had nowhere to go at the moment. This... required careful handling. 

"About that.."

Seamus lay in his bed shortly after the school was sent away. He hadn't even tried to sleep, instead attempting to make sense of the nights events. 

McGonagall said some messed up stuff. She was the head of their house so what could she really do though? Besides contest detentions. Which she didn't do. 

And tell the headmaster. 

But she'd said it in the Great Hall... and he hadn't said a word about it. She wasn't fired – he hadn't even said a word to her! 

And wasn't professor McGonagall the deputy headmistress?

A slow sense of dread crept up from his stomach – actually, he may just be sick. 

Does this mean that no one will stop Umbridge from doing the same to them? Who had she done it to already if Harry was just now speaking up? Those cuts looked bad. 

That's it – he has to do something. 

Springing into action, Seamus told everyone in his dorm room to meet in the common room, telling them to gather anyone they see – and someone to get the girls – and tell them the same. Ron grumbled a bit but no one else made a fuss at the request. 

Seamus knocked on all the boys dorms and asked everyone to meet in there too. He'd called an impromptu house meeting. 

Once he saw everyone arrive, he started. 

" I want to start off by asking if anyone else had any detentions with Umbridge."

There was some nervous shuffling but almost the whole house raised their hand. He was heartbroken to even see some first years clutching there arms before raising their hand. 

"How many used the quill..." He continued in a creaky whisper, as if speaking through tears. 

Three hands went down. Three.

Seamus just looked at everyone in abject horror until his voice finally came back. 

"And none of you Said anything?" He looked around the room which were trading guilty looks. "First of, 'The house of the brave', this isn't brave. This was stupid, ugly, pride. I want the older years to look at the first years. If she did that to you, what was stopping her from doing that to them?" He gave them one last look before continuing.

"Speaking of stopping her. I've come to a realization. I don't know if you've thought this as well, but, it truly looks like nobody is going to stop her. You all heard what McGonagall said – Dumbledore was right there! He didn't say a word! I think we're on our own here..."

A cacophony of voices sprang to life at his final hesitant declaration. One voice rose above the rest. 

"We need a plan." 

It was one of the twins, he didn't know which, with a serious expression on his face for once. 

"I propose we talk with the other houses – All of them – since we don't know how she's handling them." He shot a scathing look at Ron, him being the biggest bigot towards them he's seen since... ever, really. "Then we can see about a protest or sending evidence to the DMLE." He got nods of understanding as he finished speaking. 

"Fred and I are friends with some Slytherins, we'll talk to them – see what we can agree on and how they're treated." Ron mumbled 'probably like royalty' then promptly turned red at the twin glares he received. (Pun intended) 

"I have some friends in Hufflepuff I can talk to... If you want." Neville spoke up shyly. 

Seamus nodded at the both. "I know someone in Ravenclaw. We use tomorrow to network, hopefully by the end of the day we'll be at a concensus. If anyone gets a detention with her tell me, or another upper year, and we can figure out an emergency plan. No one is getting hurt again on my watch."

 As the meeting ended so did many others, every house having one. Tomorrow would bring great strife and great change.

They just hoped they wouldn't get tortured again. 

Harry walked into the Granger residence with a dog at his side and said Grangers in front. It had been a battle to get Hermione's parents to agree to house Sirius for the time it took to get him a trial – but he'd done it. 

Apparently they recognized him from his shots on the muggle news. 

First they didn't want to listen to explanations until the fugitive was taken care of. Harry eventually got them to calm down enough, though. They were then adding sending innocent people to prison to Britain's crimes in their eyes. 

So – smoother than he thought it would go. 

They all were ready to go to bed, after midnight as it was, and reconvene in the morning. They had much they had to do, but they thought everything might just work out in the end.